Toothbrushes are well known in the art. In general, a toothbrush comprises a head having a plurality of bristles extending therefrom, and a handle adapted to be grasped by the hand of a user.
Powered toothbrushes are also well known in the art. In general, a powered toothbrush comprises a replaceable head having a plurality of bristles extending therefrom, and a handle adapted to be grasped by the hand of the user. The replaceable head is adapted to be removably mounted on the handle so that a driver mechanism located within the handle can drive the head longitudinally and/or laterally and/or rotationally, whereby to aid in brushing the teeth.
In the typical situation, dentifrice (e.g., toothpaste, tooth powder, etc.) is applied to the bristles of the toothbrush (either manual or powered) prior to the commencement of brushing. This is generally accomplished by grasping the handle of the toothbrush in one hand and the dentifrice container in the other hand, and then manually applying the dentifrice to the bristles of the toothbrush. Once the user has applied the dentifrice to the toothbrush, the user then commences brushing the teeth.
Thus, with conventional manual and powered toothbrushes, the dentifrice is generally held in a container separate from the toothbrush, and applying the dentifrice to the bristles of the toothbrush is a two-handed operation.
It has been recognized, for both manual and powered toothbrushes, that it would be advantageous to provide an improved toothbrush having a supply of liquid dentifrice located within the handle of the toothbrush, and a dispenser mechanism for dispensing the stored liquid dentifrice to the bristles of the toothbrush for application directly to the teeth.
In the past, there have been a number of proposals for achieving the foregoing, but all of these proposals are believed to suffer from one or more significant disadvantages, including ineffectiveness of operation, lack of durability, unattractiveness of appearance, prohibitive cost of manufacture, cross-contamination, etc.
Furthermore, with respect to powered toothbrushes, these proposals have generally required that the handle of the powered toothbrush be designed with dentifrice dispensing in mind. In other words, none of these proposals is believed to have addressed the issue of how a non-dentifrice-dispensing powered toothbrush can be quickly and easily converted into a dentifrice-dispensing powered toothbrush.
In addition to the foregoing, in some circumstances substances other than dentifrice may need to be applied to the teeth and/or to the tissue adjacent to the teeth (e.g., the gums) or to other tissue accessible by the oral cavity (e.g., the throat, etc.). By way of example, but not limitation, such substances may include whitening or bleaching agents, anticariogenic (i.e., anti-cavity) agents, such as fluoride, or medicinal agents, such as an antibacterial agent, a local or systemic antibiotic, etc. All such agents and dentifrices are collectively referred to hereinafter as “oral solutions”. In this respect it should be appreciated that the term “solution” is not meant to be limiting, in the sense that it is intended to cover any flowable material consistent with the present invention, e.g., fluids, liquids, suspensions, gels, etc.